September 5,  2012

 OBSERVATIONS AND HAPPENINGS

My Australian friend has returned to London to spend a little more time before going home.  This blog is just "stuff."   Just returned from seeing a fantastic film, Lady Vegas, with Bruce Willis, Carolyn Zeta-Jones, et. al.  Fabulously entertaining.   The first time I've seen a film in English with French subtitles.  There was only one other guy in the theatre.  I highly recommend that all my friends see this if it comes your way.

Sometimes trying to buy things you need can be a challenge.  One day I walked to the bigger grocery up the hill and tried to buy a corkscrew.  Now I knew no one would know it by that name. Not seeing a clerk anywhere near the wine section to ask, I approached the security guy near the door, asking if he could call someone so that I could ask a question.  He asked me to explain it to him and he could not understand, so he called a clerk who also could not understand.  She got another woman, and I proceeded to pretend I was holding a bottle in my left hand and opening it with my right hand, and then drinking from it (I always wanted to do demos in grocery stores), using the words that I know for wine, open and drink -- vin, ouvrez and boire.  Oh, the last lady got it and smilingly said to us, "Oh, un bourchon!"  and they all started laughing and I started laughing.  She took me to the kitchen gadgets area where we found the device and I told them all that in America we call it a corkscrew, and we all started laughing again.

Next day, shopping with my neighbor, I told her that I would like to find peanut butter; she had never heard of it and googled it on her "google translator" which many people here have on their phone.  With the proper spelling in hand, she asked a grocery clerk if they had it and he shrugged his shoulders unknowingly. He got another clerk who also looked in the dark after reading the word on the google translator.  A woman shopper overheard the whole conversation and said, Oh, I know where peanut butter is!  She proceeded to lead us to the "Foreign Imported Products" section and there was SKIPPY (next to products from Spain).


I think the most amazing thing we saw this week was in Montmartre--the toilet.  A clerk in a fabric shop told us that the toilet across the street was perfectly fine and safe to use and was free. So there we find an amazing technological device. After each use, the door shuts, and the unit cleans the toilet electronically; another light then comes on and the unit cleans the floor; you cannot enter until four lights have gone on and off and then you push a button to go in and another to come out. A second person may not go in until this whole cleaning process is completed once again. The water basin is around the back of the toilet
so that a person can wash without interfering with the process of the people waiting to use the toilet.

       On our way home one day from the city we saw something quite scary.  We were waiting for the bus to go back to Vaujours when we saw a motorcycle fly by going very fast, followed by a police car that was chasing the cycle. The third time around, he turned right quite sharply, and as we had by that time boarded the bus, which was waiting to turn that same corner, we saw all this firsthand.  The cyclist could not control his  bike and as he turned that sharp corner, flew off it and landed on the opposite sidewalk. The bike was in the road. We of course were in the front of the bus and witnessed the whole thing. Of course the police were right there since they were the ones following him; quite soon other emergency personnel and an ambulance arrived.  By this time a crowd had gathered on the sidewalk, and we became aware that our bus was not going anywhere up that road, and the bus driver confirmed this. So we walked home, never having any idea what happened to the cyclist. We did see him move his legs and medical personnel were thoroughly checking him out.  I am only happy that no child or adult happened to be crossing the street or on that sidewalk at that particular moment.  I doubt if the cyclist will be joyriding again anytime soon.

Observation:  I think that French people are basically more polite than Americans EXCEPT when they are driving a car, at which point their objective is to get where they are going as fast as possible. Crossing the street can at first be terrifiying, as the green "walk light" has no significance to most drivers, and they think, "Go go go" so you have to be very careful when in fact you do cross the street.  In Paris I immerse myself into the throng and am protected on all side.  When you are at a crossing, you are so surprised when the driver motions you to go across!  I think the comparison here for them is like our "turn right on red" but it would be helpful if the law gave pedestrians more of a chance!   I must mention that I was impressed in Australia when the "OK to cross" sign was accompanied by a blaring horn; this idea is great for seniors (moi) or handicapped persons.

But I am impressed with the politeness of complete strangers and of shop and restaurant owners with whom it is such a pleasure to say "Bonjour" and "Au revoir."   A few times I have made calls to various tourist offices and during a second call the response is, "Oh yes, Mrs. Booth."   

The mail is delivered by a woman on her bicycle (bicyclette) and Sat. deliveries are done here as in the states. The Holidays are over and people are back to work; this week the children started school. The weather has been warm but not hot; about a week ago we had some more fall like days (about 67 degrees) and I was shocked to see many people wearing their winter coats, tams, with warm scarves; I wonder what they will wear when the real winter arrives.    The trees in the city have just a slight touch of change, and I am sure they will be quite beautiful.   

Before I leave on Sat. to go on my own Holiday, I will go to see another film, "Les Saphirs," from Australia, which will be in English - it is a selection from Cannes and is a comedy with Jessica Mauboy from "Bran Nua Dae," the film I saw in Woy Woy about an Aboriginal people and from which I've been meaning to try to get the sound track.  This current film is a comedy about a group of four young Aboriginal Australian women who are singing for the troops in Vietnam, and the playbill says it was inspired by true events. Stay tuned for my personal review.

And, getting back to the post and mail, I never gave most of you my mailing address.  I would love to receive real mail that I can hold in my hand.  Since my birthday is not too far off, this is not a request but a decree from God himself.   My mailing address is:  Mme. Bonnie Booth,   c/o J. Philippe Ostermann, appartment 421, 1 allee du Parc, Vaujours 93410 France. Mail takes about 6 days from the states.

And now, back to my work here for the day.  The library does not have a large choice for books in English, but just picked up John Irving's "Last Night in Twisted River."  Can I read 658 pages in two days?  We shall see.